Back in the Swing of Things

It has been a long time since I sat down and recorded the goings on here, I have been traveling for the better part of 3 weeks straight. The first week included a 2 day trip to Germany and a day trip to Pisa (for work, I only saw the tower from a great distance over the tops of the buildings). The second week was a weekend trip to the Air Force base in Aviano, about 3 hours, for an antique bazaar followed by another full week in Germany. The last one, under sad circumstances, brought me back to the US for the first time in 6 months.

Germany, more specifically Bavaria which is in south central Germany, was beautiful. Both of my trips took me thought the mountains of Northern Italy, into Austria and into Bavaria as both my destinations were only about 20 miles apart. Even in late October and early November there was good snow on the mountains and the days were crisp. Although a good portion of the days saw rainy weather and a large amount of my time indoors, it was a very nice change. My second trip was spent in a small village, Oberammergau, which has about 5000 residents and is famous for its Passion Play (www.passionplay-oberammergau.com) which is held once a decade. The play runs from May to October in 2010 and will see as many as 5,000 people a day in attendance. The trip also afforded me a chance to see “Mad” King Ludwig’s palace, Linderhoff, enjoy some excellent beer and German food.

Sadly my trip to the States was because my Grandfather, Bill, died. I elected to make the trip solo, since there were as many days traveling as would be spent on the ground. You might say that I had culture shock…in reverse. I have become accustom to narrow streets, a lot of walking, Italian food, service and hours…and Houston, Texas does not have any of that. With an hour drive contained within the Metro-plex and eight lanes of bumper to bumper traffic I was a little awe struck. I did however enjoy the time remembering Bill, hanging out with my family and some very fine BBQ.

Tomorrow we will host our first visitors, Lauren’s parents, and no doubt their escapades will make for some worthy catching up entries.